Think I bombed my partner interview with McKinsey - is there any hope?

So I had three interviews. First with an EM, where I'll give myself 10/10 for PEI and 9/10 for the case.

The second was with an Associate Partner. I'll myself a 11/10 for PEI ( it went super awesome) and 10/10 for the case and 10/10 for the guesstimate she asked me to do. I did very well on both.

Then comes the bummer. I had a partner interview in which I'll probably give myself an 8.5 or 9/10 in the PEI part and only 5 or 6 out of 10 in the case. Or I don't know, the case was so tricky I don't know what to give myself. I feel like I have zero chance based on just this partner interview.

BUT in case they consider the EM and especially the AP interviews I think I have a solid chance.

So my question is, how does McK actually make hiring decisions? I read that they make decisions as a team. Will the EM and/or AP be able to influence my chances? How does it work? I was interviewing for a BA role.

The results are going to be out in a week. The anxiety is killing me. :(

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Best Response

I'm sure you did fine, so don't over stress yourself too much. It's very difficult to know how you did because these things are subjective. I once had an interview that I thought it wen't so bad, I was surprised the guy didn't throw me out. We were arguing about the best way to expand revenue for an Airline and his take was that they should increase prices and focus on the upscale market and mine was that they should drop the price a bit and focus on expanding their fleet and add routes so that they get more revenue through volume. Both ideas can work especially in a market where you have a large number of affluent customers. So we went back and forth arguing for about 45 minutes and I dropped a few Fucks and Shits and assholes and all sorts of bad things and so did he. At the end we were both very pissed off and blood was boiling. I thought I would never hear from them but three hours later I got the call to go to the final interview round. Turns out he liked how vigorously I defended my idea with facts and that I spoke passionately about it and was willing to stick to my guns on what I thought was the right call vs. just kissing up and going where the wind takes me. All that to say again: you really never know so just sit tight and wait to hear back. Good luck.

"I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. " -GG

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